The invention relates to an animal feeder which in response to the coincidence of at least one altered feed condition of the feed contained by the animal feeder and the proximity of a person to the animal feeder generates a sensorially perceivable indicia.
A numerous and wide variety of animal feeders have been developed which in basic configurations simply retain animal food or water for consumption by an animal. These basic configurations have been modified to further include water supply means and temperature control means to maintain fresh water at a controlled temperature as disclosed for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,138,980; 3,306,236; 2,612,138; 1,553,739; and 1,497,202. Other animal feeders provide a sensor which detects that the feeder requires filling to actuate a re-fill indicator, as disclosed for example by U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,291. Certain animal feeders are further mechanized to automatically dispense measured amounts of food and water at timed intervals as disclosed for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,735,231; 5,138,979; and 1,309,090. Interaction between the animal and the animal feeder has been exploited in order to dispense animal food as disclosed for example by U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,053,124; 5,113,795; 4,799,455. For those animals that react poorly to being fed by a machine, certain animal feeders further provide prerecorded audio or video presentations to create a familiar atmosphere during feeding as disclosed for example by U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,529.
Even though there is a large commercial market for animal feeders and a numerous and wide variety of animal feeders are available for that commercial market, there remains a significant unresolved problem in that animal feeders may not sense the coincidence of an altered food condition or characteristic and the proximity of a person to the animal feeder as a trigger for the generation of a sensorially perceivable indicia to attract the person to the animal feeder. As can be understood from the discussion above, a great majority of animal feeders have no manner of sensing food characteristics, such as the amount of food or water in the animal feeder, the level of the food or water in the animal feeder, or the duration of time which has elapsed since the food was placed in animal feeder. Automating dispensation of food and water as described by the various references disclosed has not focused upon involving a person in the animal feeding process, but rather teaches away from involving a person by reducing or completely alleviating the recurring task of feeding and watering of animals by a person. In the few instances, where the animal feeder does afford an indicia of the amount of food or water in the animal feeder the indicia means remains responsive to the condition of the feeder or the contents of the feeder, but not the environment, animals, or persons proximate to the animal feeder.
By contrast the instant animal feeder invention, affords sensorially perceivable indicia to a person which are coincidence with alternation of the food or water conditions and the proximity of the person to the animal feeder.